State Senate president airs proposed welfare reforms

Wednesday, May 29, 2013 -- Anonymous (not verified)

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Local Politics

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Author(s):

Matt Stout

A proposed state Senate welfare reform bill will target, among other things, the growing number of waivers that litter the state welfare system and undercut the true intent of public assistance, Senate President Therese Murray said today.

Murray, poised to release what she’s touted as comprehensive legislation in the coming weeks, said “very glaring” problems in the waiver system have allowed people to latch on and stay on the dole long past what officials, including herself, envisioned when they passed welfare reform in the mid-1990s.

“(Welfare) is not a lifetime commitment to care. It is a hand to get you up when you’re having a hard time,” Murray said this morning after speaking at the Boston Irish Business Awards breakfast, where she was also honored.

“If you had a child and you had another child while you were on welfare, there wasn’t supposed to be a waiver for that. You weren’t supposed to be able to stay in the system and get money for the second or the third or the fourth child. Those waivers have been given over the last several years, and we’ve come to find this out really last year when we started taking a look at it.”

Murray said the out-of-control waivers have extended to several areas as well, including the welfare system’s work and education programs.

“There are a lot of loopholes,” she said.

Murray also hinted that she’s in favor of adding photos to EBT cards, a hotly debated topic that was passed in the House budget and gutted in the Senate. She said that “while it may cost something,” a measure requiring photos or some ID would help address EBT card trafficking.

Department of Transitional Assistance officials have argued that photos were cut from the cards during the Romney administration in 2004, and haven’t proven to cut down on fraud.

“I know there’s a difference in opinion whether you need a picture on these cards or not,” Murray said, “But law enforcement arrest these people, and they have two to three of these cards in their pockets. And Social Security numbers.”

Murray’s comments, the first public details she’s provided on the scope of the bill, come a day after state Auditor Suzanne Bump released a scathing report detailing how DTA, over a two-year span, gave $2.4 million in welfare benefits to more than 1,160 people who were dead.

But Murray defended the agency, saying that under interim commissioner Stacey Monahan it has already begun addressing many of the issues the audit highlights.

“She’s already taken this ball and run with it, and has already closed down a lot of the activities that were taking place,” she said.